This week’s $40 boxes include home grown limes from home-grower Lisa in Lindisfarne – Lisa’s backyard is a veritable citrus grove, and we also scored some grapefruit (which is being turned into marmalade by Harvest & Light) and believe it or not, even a few oranges, which will be on the menu of an excellent local restaurant. Citrus fruit are all a great source of acidity in cooking, but the level of sweetness and bitterness that accompany this are quite variable, and are also somewhat dependent upon how ripe the fruit is. Whilst there’s heaps of flavour inside the fruit, don’t forget to make the most of the skin, which is the source of much of the fragrance of citrus – so much of what we think of as flavour actually makes its way to our brain via the nose, and in fact commercial orange juice producers often add extracts from orange peel to their juice to regain some of the flavour that is lost in processing. Citrus peel, for the same reason, is a common ingredient in cocktails; it doesn’t really add much flavour, but gives the impression of flavour as breathe in while drinking the cocktail. If you’re feeling so inclined, why not combine this week’s mint from Richmond Farm with the lime juice and peel to make the classic mojito cocktail!
If you’ve got lemons, limes or anything else growing that you’d like us to include in our boxes please visit this link for more details on the process.
